Sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) in South Korea plunged more than 30 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday.

The value of ELS products in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 11.6 trillion won ($9.8 billion) in the July-September period, down 30.8 percent from the second quarter, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository.

The figure, however, was up 17.8 percent from the 9.8 trillion won floated during the same period a year earlier.

ELS refers to hybrid debt securities whose returns are linked to the performance of underlying equities, including a stock index.

Sales of ELS tracking the S&P 500 tumbled 20.8 percent from three months earlier, and those of ELS based on South Korea's KOSPI 200 also nose-dived 34.4 percent.

ELS products worth 11.9 trillion won were redeemed in the three-month period, down 37.8 percent from the second quarter and 20.5 percent from a year earlier.

The outstanding value of ELS products amounted to 53.1 trillion won as of end-September, down 0.4 percent from three months earlier and 26.2 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)